In which the author ponders the question, "If you admit that you are a hypocrite, are you really a hypocrite?" He then provides his honest commentary on a number of fascinating topics. He insists, however, that his readers form their own opinions.

Friday, June 29, 2007

Apparently Delaware has no better equipment to determine water quality than to take Governor Minner, put her in a bathing suit and ask her if she can see her sneakers as she wades out into the Rehoboth Bay. The critical measurement is the depth at which the cloudy water obscures the sneakers.

I have provided a chart of the measurement for the past seven years. This year it was 32 inches vs. last year's 54 inches. While I admire her hands-on approach, perhaps there is a more scientific approach to the issue. I can't help but say this - this is bad science and mediocre political theatre. You can't just look at one spot in the bay, it could be affected by the weather, are they the same sneakers, is it the same person looking. I hope these objections go without saying. One thing I can say, Governor Minner has the self-confidence to go splashing around the bays in a bathing suit if that is what it takes to do the job! (via Down with Absolutes)

Clamshell driveways are less clam shell and more artillery shell!

Over the past several years various pieces of ordnance and even a mustard gas shell have been found in clamshell driveways on the Delmarva Peninsula dredged up as part of clamshells used as cheap driveway fill. The mustard shell was found in Delaware -

"EDS mission to Dover Air Force Base a successIn the fall of 2004, the U.S. Army Non-Stockpile Chemical Materiel Project (NSCMP) successfully treated a World War I-era 75 mm projectile at Dover Air Force Base, Del. Recovered July 19 by the Delaware State Police from a clamshell driveway in Bridgeville, Del., the munition containing mustard agent was transported to Dover Air Force Base. NSCMP treated the munition with the Explosive Destruction System, a mobile system specially designed to safely treat recovered chemical warfare materiel."

Apparently tons of World War II and even World War I munitions were dumped off the eastern seaboard for years and now is turning up in clamshell driveways dredged up from the ocean floor. I imagine heavier vehicles are at risk, so a good side effect would be to get rid of all of those gas guzzling SUV's when the stuff goes up when the old ordnance is detonated by a tire rolling over it. The Daily Press has gathered all of their coverage over the years into "The Deadliness Below". The story of the mustard gas injuries caused by the Delaware shell is in this .pdf presentation. (via Slacktivist)

In the US the median speed ranges from a slow 0.54 mbps in Alaska to a speedy 5 mbps in Rhode Island. A histogram generated from the data shows that most states fall from 1 to 2.5 mbps. Delaware comes in at #9 with around almost 2.7 mbps. But that is still low compared to the rest of the world.

Combining the speed data with population density data (population and area) reveals a weak correlation, but what you would expect, higher population density states states have higher median broadband speeds. This is probably a reflection of higher population density states having cities or better infrastructure, though there are still outliers like Kansas, with a high speed for a low population density state and Rhode Island which is an outlier for speed. I did try to work on finding measurements of state infrastructure such as roads (using median distance to road information from this article), but I failed to find any better correlation.

The data (.pdf report) is from Speed tests results for Sept. 2006 through May 2007; most participants had DSL or cable modem connections Source: CWA Communications. I think that the CWA, Communication Workers of America, is trying to make the point for better higher speed Internet access which gets them more jobs.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Can a garden or pest expert tell me what has just dug a furrow in my lawn? There was nothing there on Thursday when I mowed the lawn and today I noticed these sinuous bare lines dug in the lawn. The grass is completely gone not just dead in a two inch swath that stretches several feet from one flower bed to another. No animals were obviously in the area. I checked under the ground cover in the beds with a stick. I added my size 10 foot in there to provide a metric.

The complete removal of the grass has me wondering if I have a nanotechnology runaway (see grey goo) going on in my lawn, giant acid spitting slugs, or some other science fictiony answer. I have never seen anything like this and neither has my wife with the agriculture degree. Please help out a fellow gardener by commenting or pointing me to somewhere that can help. My Google searches have been fruitless.

Sunday, June 24, 2007

Since I am a voracious reader I thought I might find out which of those marks is the one I identify with the most.

Your Score: ellipsis

You scored 46% Sociability and 82% Sophistication!

Your life can be difficult because of your insecurities, but you should know that it isn't your fault. YOU didn't ask to be thrown in around thirty times per page in every bodice-ripper on the shelf! Those who overuse you can kiss your . . . you know. You need to learn to hold your head high and glory in your solitude. You really do have excellent, scholarly tastes. You must never forget that your friend, the period, will be there to support you at the end of every sentence where you truly belong, and, if what is left out is as important as what is said, why, then you are as vital as the alphabet!

The presidential candidate selector quiz asks the questions and then matches you to your candidate. I have to admit, I had to look up my own number one result. Kent McManigal is a far out write in candidate for radical libertarians. Let me go check those answers again...

Saturday, June 23, 2007

I now need to be slightly more careful blundering around the flower beds. This large but seemingly harmless snake was hiding in the shade under some hostas two days ago. I tried to get in and get a better closeup but he slithered away under more cover and I was unable to hold camera and stick at the same time. This snake is considerably large than the garter snakes that we have seen around other parts of the yard, and I think it is larger than the ones we have seen swimming in the creek. I estimate two feet in length and twice as large than a garden hose around.

It was the snakes swimming in the creek that caused me to do some more research into what snakes are native to Delaware. I was particularly interested in any venomous snakes that are in Delaware since it is obvious that I will be encountering snakes as the days go by. Wikipedia has a nice list of snakes of New Jersey, which should be relevant, having the same climate though it is across the river. I think that list was put together with ease because it is based on the NJ Division of Fish and Wildlife Online Field Guide for Reptiles and Amphibians . There is no such list for Delaware that I have found in my searching yet. There is a long list of unstartedwikipedia articles for lists of snakes of each state. This caused me to find and buy an old article "List of Snakes of the United States and Canada by States and Provinces", by A.H.Wright and A.A. Wright, The American Midland Naturalist, Vol. 48, No. 3, PP. 574-603, Nov 1952.

I may be inspired to start the list for the Delaware wikipedia article, but I am not done searching for sources yet. As for venomous snakes in Delaware, I recognize Agkistrodon m. mokeson which is a copperhead as the only poisonous snake in Delaware. I will need to do more research to find out what the snake above is. Are there any herpetologists out there who can help?

Update (4-16-2010): Finally wanted to put in here that "Amphibians and Reptiles of Delmarva" by James White and Amy White helped me identify this snake as a Northern Water Snake, Nerodia sipedon sipedon. I probably new this not long after this original post, but I want it here for reference.

I really liked him when he coached the Pirates in Pittsburgh and I still like hime now. It is weird to see him smile and joke around. My memories of him at Pittsburgh are of long faced interviews after they repeatedly lost the National League Championship to those damned Atlanta Braves.

Ivan "Pudge" Rodriguez isn't 35 yet so he has to wait a few years to throw his hat in the ring. Can someone born in Puerto Rico become president? I am sure that Paul knows. I say yes because Puerto Ricans are citizens of the US.